Despite FITARA’s one-year anniversary, the law continues to present challenges for Chief Information Officers (CIO) and their agencies. To that end, FCW hosted an executive roundtable in early December to discuss the one-year anniversary of the enactment. Similarly, an additional benefit to the roundtable is the much needed CIO perspective on the practical realities of the law and its implementation.

Among the topics discussed at the roundtable were the benefits of the law, agency inventory and the cultural challenges agencies face as the law upends the status quo for IT acquisition and procurement. Here are a few of the discussed benefits and cultural challenges:

Potential benefits of FITARA:

• A more effective, collaborative environment for CIOs.
• The driving of the creation of foundational processes for agency IT procurement.
• The possibility for greater efficiencies and accountability across government.
• The collective lessons that CIOs can learn from each other to eliminate costs and inefficient piecemeal purchasing.

Possible Cultural Challenges of FITARA:

• Learning to work with a more centralized approach to IT procurement and management.
• The changing definition of IT and its ambiguity.
• The increased importance of collaboration as a key to successful IT procurement
• The potential for reallocation and redefinition of staff resources

Despite the cultural challenges that accompany FITARA, the benefits far outweigh the challenges and the law promotes good IT governance when implemented thoughtfully.